Cancelled Trump-Albanese meeting should not be ‘politicised'
'Let's not politicise foreign affairs,' Ms Scott told Sky News host Paul Murray.
'Let's not undermine the Australian government's efforts, whoever they are, to get a good deal for Australians.'
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7NEWS
3 hours ago
- 7NEWS
New $2 billion plan to shift kids with autism or development delays off NDIS could be ‘generational reform'
Children with autism who rely on the NDIS for support will be diverted to a new program, touted by disability groups as a 'once-in-a-generation' reform. Disability Minister Mark Butler used a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to say the NDIS was not the right fit for the growing number of children on the autism spectrum or with developmental delays. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Government plans to shake up disability support for children. A separate program called Thriving Kids will be set up to focus on those children previously covered by the NDIS. It will begin rolling out from July 2026 and be fully implemented by July 2027. Children with autism on the NDIS would not be steered from the scheme until supports were fully rolled out, the minister said. 'I know this will be hard for some parents to hear and I don't say it lightly,' Butler said in the speech. 'We need as a matter of some urgency to create a better system that will enable our children to thrive. 'Diverting this group of kids over time from the NDIS is an important element of making the scheme sustainable and returning it to its original intent.' 'Once-in-a-generation change' Medicare items for occupational therapy, speech pathology and psychosocial therapy would be considered for the program, including a bulk-billed check-up for three-year-olds, Butler said. The federal government would start by making a $2 billion contribution, matched by states and territories. Early intervention strategies were key for ensuring children received the right support, Autism Awareness chief executive Nicole Rogerson said. '(Thriving Kids) potentially has the opportunity to be a once-in-a-generation change in how we look at developmental pediatrics,' she said. She said what Butler was doing was 'pretty rare for a politician' because he was 'owning what the problem is'. Rogerson told 7NEWS: 'The structural problem has become so big that children with any kind of developmental delay are now getting a label of autism, in order to get assistance from the NDIS and that's inflated the numbers.' Ensuring the program was in place before children were moved from the scheme was reassuring, People with Disability acting chief executive Megan Spindler-Smith said. 'That terrifies me' Since the announcement, many families have shared their concern. Australian mum Kaili Metani's daughters live with autism and she said the NDIS saved their lives. 'My youngest daughter was told when she was diagnosed that she would never walk or talk and it's only because of therapy that she is able to,' she told 7NEWS. She feared the new program, if not implemented correctly, would lead to a 'generation who are unsupported, and that terrifies me'. The minister said while one in 50 people had a significant disability which would be covered by the NDIS, one in five young children were on the autism spectrum or had a developmental delay. Parents had little choice but to put their children with autism on a scheme designed for permanent disability, Butler said. 'Families who were looking for additional supports in mainstream services can't find them because they largely don't exist anymore and in that, all governments have failed them,' he said. Butler said the changes would help to bring down the cost of the NDIS, with taxpayers set to fork out more than $52 billion for the scheme in 2025/26. Laws passed in 2024 put in place a cap on spending growth of eight per cent per year. 'Even under that scenario, the NDIS is still forecast to cost $105 billion and will increase its share of GDP by 0.5 per cent over the coming decade,' Butler said. 'That's the equivalent of growth in Medicare, defence and aged care spending combined — measured as a share of GDP.' The minister said the existing level of growth was unsustainable and a cap of between five and six per cent would be more effective. 'After we achieve our current target, a further wave of reform will be needed to get growth down to a more sustainable position,' he said. 'There's no significant change in disability prevalence in the community and the scheme is now fully rolled out. So growth should really reflect unit price inflation plus growth in Australia's population.' Autism peak body Aspect said families needed the right level of support. 'Given the number of autistic children we support through our schools and therapy programs, families must have confidence there will be continuity of supports, real choice and control, and no gaps during the transition,' chief executive Jacqui Borland said
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Bigger properties occupied by smaller households in major housing mismatch, Cotality finds
In a reminder of how broken housing affordability and access is, new analysis highlights a major mismatch between the size of Australian homes and the number of people living in them. While the vast bulk of Australian housing is built for larger families, property research firm Cotality has found more than 60 per cent of households are made up of just one or two people. It reveals a misalignment between "who lives in our homes and the kinds of homes we're building", Cotality's head of head of Australian research Eliza Owen said in the report. "Of the lone-person households in Australia, the data suggests around 40 per cent are aged 65 and over," Ms Owen said. "The highest share of households is two people, but the highest share of housing has three bedrooms. "While there's nothing wrong with more bedrooms than people in a dwelling, there could be some inefficiencies in the way housing is being allocated," Ms Owen said. "After all, a 'traditional' family of four may have more need for a three-bedroom dwelling than a household of two people." The report cited data from the 2021 Census, which showed there were more two-person family households in three-bedroom dwellings (about 1.3 million), than three or four-person family households (about 1.1 million). Ms Owen has suggested a way to fix the "efficiency question", which she knows is not politically appealing — send a price signal. "Governments could make it more expensive to have more housing than you need, and cheaper to live in smaller housing," she wrote in her research note. She said that logic often leads to calls for tax reform including abolishing stamp duty to cheaper to move between housing, replacing it with a broad-based land tax (which raises costs the more land you own). "These options are both politically difficult as it would involve moving from a tax that applies to a small amount of voters each year who purchase property to one that will tax two thirds of voters (property owners)," she noted. Independent housing researcher Cameron Kusher, speaking to The Business in July, argued high transaction costs, namely stamp duty, discourage moving to a "better sized property" and can lead to people purchasing larger homes than they need to begin with. "People just feel like if I can get a better and bigger home sooner, that's a better outcome," he said. "If we look at what is being built, it's usually very large houses, four or five bedrooms, taking up most of the land on these new housing sites," Mr Kusher said. "A lot of it comes down to how much a piece of a property, [and] how much the land and the house, costs. "I think a lot of people are building bigger homes, thinking 'I'll spend a little bit more up-front and my family will grow into this home'. "It might just be a couple grandkids, or they're planning to have a couple of kids." He noted the effects of rapidly increasing property prices, which can leave people priced out of re-entering the market, and the fact that larger properties can be more likely to appreciate in value at a faster pace. Cotality's Ms Owen said other policy options to encourage people to move into appropriately sized homes could include reforming pension asset tests to include the value of the family home. "Strides are already being taken on the supply side to establish well-located apartments in our larger cities, that can accommodate smaller households. "But shifting demand through tax reform could help the take-up of these new homes." The government has accepted it is not on track to meet the target to build 1.2 million homes in five years, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers has stood by the ambition, despite Treasury advice it would not be met. In another recent note, Ms Owen questioned the focus of state and federal governments on speeding up building approvals to boost housing supply, warning that the construction industry simply cannot keep pace. "With completion times already above average and construction costs elevated, it seems an odd time to be incentivising more dwelling approvals and commencements," she said. Cameron Kusher argued past experience could be a guide on how to approach today's housing problems and ease the construction crunch. "Maybe we need to go back to how things were 30 or 40 years ago, where you have smaller homes and you make them easy to renovate," he told The Business. "Over time, people can actually add bedrooms, bathrooms, car parks, verandahs and all these sorts of things to add value to the home.
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘God bless her': Tulsi Gabbard praised for holding officers in Russian hoax accountable
Political advisor and commentator CJ Pearson discusses the New York Post's report of US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard pulling the security clearance on 37 current and former officials for partaking in the Russian collusion hoax. 'God bless Tulsi Gabbard for being in the position that she is and bringing accountability to a place that is desperately needed,' Mr Pearson told Sky News host Rita Panahi. 'These people who abuse their positions, abuse their powers, and actively subvert the rule of law and weaponise government against, again, half of America, should be held to account.'
